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"In 1643, a member of the Herbalists' Guild in Bruges was asked to set up a pharmacy in the former monastery of St John's Hospital. The pharmacy was run by a number of sisters, and remained in existence until 1971, complete with its original fixtures and fittings from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. It was then incorporated in the museum"1.

Next to the pharmacy main chamber, another "room with its Baroque, oak furniture used to be the pharmacy's drawing room. However, since two series of governors' portraits were installed here in 1891, it has been referred to as the 'Governors' Chamber"2.

I have used a version of the van Bree painting in my history of pharmacy course for years. It shows very well the various steps in 19th-century pharmacy: the selection of the plant using an herbal, garbling (separating the active parts from the inert), processing (communition), compounding the prescription, and last but not least, storage. All in close proximity to the patient and care giver. Great!